Hello all! Where did this month go?! I truly cannot believe I will be turning the pages of my calendar to October tomorrow. After next weekend, my busy, on-the-road-every-weekend social calendars slows a but (at least for a couple weeks), so I hope to be able to share more recipes and fun fall DIYs with you all. For now, let me catch you up on our comings and goings this past month:

The first glimpses of fall while on a walk in South Mountain Reservation near my in-law’s home in NJ / NYC by sunset in my side-view mirror on a drive home to Queens one Sunday evening / Election season brought a hopeful candidate who decorated our block with balloons *swoon*

Josh and I “celebrated” 7 years since our first meeting / we traveled to Baltimore to watch two dear friends get married, and enjoyed the ambience including a giant pink poodle at the American Visionary Art Museum / Dimona got cozy with three Suss-men while watching football / my MIL and I enjoyed some glowing animal ears at my cousin Jonah’s bar-mitzvah

I hope you all had a beautiful September. Looking forward to seeing you more next month and as we enter the holiday season! xo

Although I rarely take part in The Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenges (but always enjoy looking at what others have shared), this week’s topic was one I felt I could easily dive into. I realized that I never shared very many pictures from my trip to Amsterdam last year, and since that vacation was spent playing around with the focus on my new camera, I jumped at this opportunity to share some of my favorite shots responsive to this challenge.

The challenge reads as follows: “For this challenge, get out there and take a picture demonstrating the concept of focus. Depending on your skill level or type of camera, tinker with the manual settings, use the auto focus feature, or play around with an app.”

The first set of photos were taken at NDSM Werf, located just a short ferry ride from Centraal Station. The site is an abandoned ship yard turned artist’s haven with amazing sculptures, graffiti, statues, and other art installations created from rusted remains. I played with my camera’s focus while looking through a hole in a warehouse wall, first focusing on the graffiti inside, then shifting the focus to the brick I was looking through.

The difference is subtle, yet striking. I can’t decide which one I like more!

Here are a few others from the ‘Dam that I took while playing around with different focus and depth of field:

Looking through all of my photos again for the best to share really took me back. I’d recommend Amsterdam to anyone planning a trip to Europe! Wishing you all a lovely weekend! xo

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting one of my best friends in her current city – Philadelphia. I must admit, I had this vision of Philadelphia being a bit… gross. (I know, this from a NEW YORKER – a bit of the pot calling the kettle black, as I am the first to admit NYC is pretty filthy). Anyway, two of our other former college roomies joined us from Boston, and the four of us had the best time eating, drinking, and laughing our way through an unbelievably charming little city. Philly, I will be back!

I can’t remember the last time I needed a weekend so badly. I got a new boss AND lost my “work wife” who left for another position all in the same week. On top of that, the temps reached well over 100˚F every single day. The city absolutely stinks, I’ve been covered with about 6 layers of sweat at all times, and haven’t been sleeping too well either.

Now the weekend is finally here, and after wrapping up a few pesky work items this morning, I’m excited to celebrate a friend’s birthday in a local park this afternoon, hop into Manhattan tonight to have dinner at Hudson Place with some of my best friends visiting from CT for the evening, and head to NJ tomorrow to see family.

Monday won’t even be so bad, because Josh and I have tickets to go see the Mets at Citifield with 10 of our awesome friends! (And I hear the weather is supposed to cool off by then too! 🙂 )

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend in store and a way to stay cool for this last day of heat. Enjoy! xo

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P&PB contains random musing, recipes, photos, fashion, projects and other little life happenings of this 20-something newlywed, attorney, dog mommy, and amateur foodie. Recent inhabitant of Queens, NYC (by way of Brooklyn, by way of Vermont...). Come on in and make yourself at home!